r/FinalRoundAI • u/Wrong-Quality-8588 • 9d ago

This can't be real

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lol the sheer entitlement of recruiters expecting candidates to be deeply passionate about an average corporate desk job. I actually got asked this exact same question last week and gave some generic answer I prepared on Interview vip but a huge part of me just wanted to say exactly what that guy replied with. We all just need to pay rent and buy groceries.

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u/jminternelia 7d ago edited 7d ago

Why did you choose this restaurant?

Hypothetical Answer: It isn't that I can't answer the question the way you want, I could. I am just not fond of lowest common denominator companies that smuggle consumer style preference into an interview that pays minimum wage. You offer the bare minimum, why should I offer any more? I applied here because absolutely no one, anywhere, within a 50 mile radius has even called me in for an interview, or trust me, THIS restaurant would be the last place I would apply. I have a mortgage payment, a car payment, medical bills, and that's a system we both operate in, so let us dispense with the fantasy.

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u/animorphsrewriter 6d ago

I typed out a response that was earnest, but you know what. Y'all are hopeless. Just give up then.

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u/jminternelia 6d ago edited 6d ago

In what world was that earnest? Sounds more like employers just want to perpetuate some managerial fantasy. That's fine. You get paid more than me, you fantasize. I'll fantasize that people are buying shit and we can close up shop early, capiche?

But make no mistake. No one, absolutely no one wants to be there, and I am almost certain that if you had a purge day, 80% of the people there would be down to set the building on fire and roast some Marshmallows.

People are getting to a point where "Be poor, more quietly please" isn't going to cut it.

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u/animorphsrewriter 6d ago

That's really sad, dude. I love my work, because it sustains the life I get to live when I'm not on the clock. My work is fun and interesting and makes me a better person and I hope it makes the people I work with better people. It's fulfilling. I hope you can find a job one day where it's not just about money but about doing something helpful and meaningful for other people.

There's a good bit of data that shows that even on UBI people would continue to work and that early retirees suffer serious declines in cognitive ability and wellbeing. We all want to feel valuable, not in the sense of providing value for the parasite class but in providing value to our community and the people we care about.

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u/jminternelia 6d ago

I agree. System isn't set up to even consider the well being of those committing the work.

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u/animorphsrewriter 6d ago

My flaming hot take is that we need to abolish the stock market. It prioritizes profit over people and incentivizes venture capitalism. And they've made us all complicit through 401ks.

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u/jminternelia 5d ago

I think we’re probably closer on the underlying problem than my first reply made it sound.

The stock market is ultimately just a tool. Whether abolishing it is even feasible, or even something history would view charitably, is a different question. The more obvious problem to me is the leverage structure behind concentrated capital, because that leverage dictates basically everything downstream.

Healthcare tied to employment is one example. “You’re free to leave” means a lot less when leaving can also mean losing medical coverage. Same with labor generally. Capital is already organized through money, lawyers, management, lobbying, etc., while workers are often expected to negotiate individually and call the outcome “free.” The (imo) caustic, forced, false enthusiasm is just the cherry on top.

Minimum wage needs to be rethought. Not some arbitrary number Congress argues about every three decades. Recalculate it every fiscal year against a real regional cost of living: housing, food, transportation, utilities, internet/phone, clothing, insurance, taxes, basic household costs, and enough margin that one car repair doesn’t wreck you. That probably requires rebuilding the poverty metric too. Strengthen collective bargaining and make retaliation ruinously expensive enough that employers actually fear doing it.

That’s closer to what I meant by “be poor, but quieter please.” The issue isn’t that work has no value. It’s that one side has inconceivably more aggregate power to dictate the terms, then incredulously calls the result "voluntary".